Cyber hobby 1/32 Bf 109 E-4

[mobear]

I`m in love with this plane,looking really good to me

mobear

 

[Pete Mac]

Hi Steve , Welcome back. looks like you have taken an interesting slant on this build. I decided to opt for Gallands example and have just completed the mottled camouflage pattern . Every reference I have seen to date looks slightly different so I have gone for my own interpretation correct or otherwise!. I am interested to know if you have fitted the engine under the cowl. I tried until I was seeing double but have decided to leave the engine out as a seperate build.It seems that it fouls the cowl which is what I have read on other reviews, even with judicious relieving of material . I'm surprised that Dragon models havn'nt addressed this issue. I'll post some pics. when finished. Good luck. Pete.

 

[stona]

Hi Pete,yes the engine is in there and the cowlings are still removeable. It's a very tight fit. The gap at the bottom of the rear of the two is fractionally bigger than I'd like. I did contemplate either sticking about 0.25 mm of plastic on the bottom or thinning the top but decided against it. The cowling over the engine fits perfectly.

The Eduard kit has a similar but worse problem. It's impossible to make the cowlings and covers in scale thickness,they would be thinner than paper,so if the engine and other internals are made the correct scale size the covers won't fit! It's as simple as that.

I think the Cyber-hobby/Dragon kit is made to very,very fine tolerances which makes for potential issues in areas like this.

So you've gone for W.Nr 5819. Galland first flew that aircraft on 7/9/40. It had the more powerful DB 601 N engine running on 100 octane fuel (C2 or C3).

He had previously flown W.Nr 5398 and sometimes the two get confused.On 23rd September he claimed his 40th victory in his new aircraft and photographs taken at the time show that 5819 did not have the Mickey Mouse emblem or capped spinner. By December it had both. The telescope is also absent in the photos,whether it had been fitted or not I'm not sure from memory.

Here's a nice photo of Galland (everyone knows I like a good photo!) with his boss mounting a guard of honour at a funeral. From the date I suspect this is for Udet.

I suspect that Molders was supposed to be there too but he died in a plane crash on his way to the funeral.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Pete Mac]

Thanks Steve, I'll just have to put this one down to my inexperience. It will bug me forever now that I know that it does fit but too late to do anything about it now. Now a humerous Diarama may be born , something like a mechanic working over the uninstalled engine deep in thought wondering why the bl...y thing won't fit (only kidding) I opted for the fitted cowl as it is such a striking feature of this aircraft. Pete.

 

[Pete Mac]

Sorry Steve, Didn't scroll down far enough and missed the photo. What a fresh young sprog he looked then. Don't think much of that character with half a mustach. You must have one heck of a reference library there. Thanks, Pete.

 

[stona]

The end is in sight!

I got the varnish on yesterday and have weathered the model up this morning. Not too mucky and avoiding the replacement cowling which I'm imagining has been fitted on the morning of the final flight.

I've started assembling the undercarriage,propeller assembly etc.

I've got some figures underway too. Figure painting is not something I generally do,I'm pretending I'm painting cockpit detail!

Cheers

Steve

 

[Vaughan]

Camo and weathering is nice and subtle Steve, I'm looking forward to the to seeing this bird completed.

Vaughan

 

[stona]

I'm calling this one done,though I'll eventually pose it with the canopy open. Unfortunately my temporary fix seems a bit permanent at the moment!

More piccies and the back story here.

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/planes/16333-von-werras-bf-109-e-4-completed.html

Cheers

Steve